A Single Lifetime | Novella

FAJR DUMPED ALL HER BAGS UPON entering and her eyes flew to the clock that hung above the kitchen door.

“Crap,” she said under her breath as she grabbed her laptop from the living room and continued typing her essay.

Due at 11:59 p.m, Fajr thought, chewing the corner of her lip.

Why on earth did you not start this before? Her mother would say.

Because I just could have done it later…

Procrastinating is a waste of time.

Not when you’re a Husani woman, Fajr would say under her breath.

Fajr had gotten a history lesson way before she was in school. The first thing her mother taught her was how to bend the rules of time, an ability passed down from one generation of Husnai women to the other.

On her tenth birthday, her mother had gifted her one of her inventions: a pocket watch. A pocket watch that helped Fajr keep track of time when she was in infinity.

“Why do I delay these assignments?” she asked herself, massaging the place between her brows, smudging the makeup.

Just then, her phone rang and Fajr yelped. Zareen was barely home, her work involved traveling and doing research with people all around the world. She called at random times, from mundane places.

Her entire team had been like a family to Fajr and being raised by a scientist had it’s perks.

“Can’t talk right now, Amma,” Fajr said to no one, and switched off her phone.

Don’t do it, you’ve got plenty of time to finish it, she scolded herself internally.

Fajr hadn’t even bothered removing her hijab...or shoes…

Had the cats gone to sleep? She thought, loosening the scarf around her head.

There was a clock in every room and the sound of their synchronous ticking was comforting. But sometimes, she needed them to slow down. Even if she had the entire night to herself, the way to calm her nerves was to slow everything down. She needed to feel in control and secluded from the rest of the world.

“Amma’s going to kill me for developing a habit of this,” she said as she cracked her knuckles and averted her focus onto the clocks ticking around her.

Just as her eyes closed, her phone started ringing again…

Each time, it felt like pulling on some invisible string around her and forcing it to a halt. She swore she could feel something tugging at her rib when she used her power, it was like time was tied to her and her only.

Fajr took a chance to clean herself up and get in her pajamas, check on her two cats and text her mom back.

When she was finally done with her assignment, her eyes flew to her wrist watch…

11:57 p.m.

Her fingers raced across the keyboard and she clicked send.

“Phew!” she said aloud, getting to her feet to shake out the numbness. “That time was definitely worth it.”She texted her mom that she’ll call in the morning and thought about the last time she saw her.

A few months ago, during Ramzan. But she had left right after Eid.

At times, Zareen would be in the country, but Fajr wouldn’t know because she didn’t have time to stop by their little town.

When she was younger, Fajr cut out a part of the map and put it in a frame. The part that had their town’s name smudged on it. She smiled at the nostalgic flashback.

“You can hardly see it on the map without using a magic glass, Mama,” Fajr would say with a pout and crossed arms.

“A magnifying glass,” her mother would correct.

“How will people know that Asali is here?”

“They’ll need to look closely.”

“But, can’t we make the town bigger?”

“Uhh...we can but it would still look small on the map.”“How will they know we’re here?” she repeated.

Her mother stopped what she was doing and pulled Fajr onto her lap. “Every place and every person has something special about them…”

“What’s special about Asali?”

“You’ll just need to look closely around here,” her mother had said as she scooped up the local honey and Fajr started licking it instantly.

For the rest of the week, Fajr carried a Hello Kitty notebook with her and made a list of potential things that might be the thing that sets Asali aprt from the rest of the world. By the end of the week, she had crossed everything on the list.

“I don’t think there’s anything special about Asali,” she said dejectedly, with her head resting on the kitchen counter. Seven year-old Fajr looked like she had just found out that fairies aren’t real. “It’s just like every other town on this planet.”

“You think people don’t know this town is here,” her mother started. “But there is something that people crave, that only this town makes.” A furrow appeared between Fajr’s bushy eyebrows. “What does crave mean again?”

Her mother had laughed at the way her eyes twinkled in oblivion. “Well,” she said, a hand on her hip. “It’s when you’re hungry and you only want to eat one specific thing, and nothing else.”

“Like cake?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“So, the people crave cake and–”“Not cake.”

“What on earth could be better than cake?” Fajr stomped her foot and blinked away the tears.

Fajr’s mom cleared her throat and slided the jar of honey across the counter.

Honey, Fajr thought as her head fell onto a cushion embroidered with flowers. Her mother’s handiwork, another talent she had passed onto Fajr.

Asali Honey, a popular treat in the country.

“The only thing better than honey is honey on plain cake with a little bit of powder.” A snack that Fajr had invented when she was a child. She ate it after every meal.

Her mouth watered at the thought of honey, but her lethargia beat her appetite and Fajr dozed off on the couch.

Fajr groaned awake. The sound of adhaan flooded the neighbourhood. Only, it didn’t sound like the usual call to prayer.

Fajr blinked and spotted one of her cats, the ginger named Aurora slowly walking towards her. Suddenly, she didn’t feel tired at all. In fact, she felt like she had overslept but it was still dark out.

Oh no…

She felt her dinner come up to her throat as she realized what was happening around her. Her eyes scanned the clock and she prayed the time wasn’t actually 4:00 a.m.

She had fallen asleep...in infinity.

That meant she had been asleep for more than eight hours. That’s why the adhaan had sounded different, because she was hearing it in slow motion.

“As cute as you look running towards me like that...that’s enough for one day,” Fajr said, clearing her throat as she forced herself out of the time bubble she had created for much longer than intended.

Aurora leaped into Fajr’s lap and she switched on the lights, as they listened to adhaan together.

“Still, good things came out of this,” she spoke to herself. “One, I got up in time for namaz–” Prayer. “–two, I got way more sleep than everyone else and in a short amount of time…”

Aurora purred as if she understood and Fajr scratched her behind the ear. Thanks to falling asleep with an infinite amount of time, she was well rested and way ahead of her daily agenda.

“It’s off to bed for you and off to pray for me.”

Fajr performed ablution and found herself on the prayer mat even after she was done. This time, right before sunrise felt like the calm before the storm. It was a few moments Fajr got to spend with God. It was just her and Him.

It just so happened to be her mother’s favourite time of the day. That’s how Fajr got her name. She was named after the first prayer of the day.

Since the house was a mess, Fajr decided to clean up. It was how she spent most Saturdays. Deep cleaning the house before noon and skateboarding to a new coffee shop with Sura.

Her favourite part of the morning was breakfast and she prepared two plates each morning. Something sweet and something savoury. And she ate them in that order.

First came the waffles and ice cream, then the omlete with toast. Washing all of that down with coffee was a necessity.

“Come on, Aurora,” she said to her cat as it followed her upstairs. “Time to get dressed.”

Fajr took her sweet time picking out an outfit to compliment her palatial body, unaware of how long she was taking...

“I’ve been waiting out here for twenty minutes,” Sura said as soon as Fajr stepped out of the house, locking the door behind her. As lushious and Pinterest-worthy her garden was, sitting out there in the burning sun didn’t help with Sura’s irascibility.

“Twenty whole minutes!” she repeated with a whine.

I know. I know, Fajr thought and her stomach twisted at the thought of having wasted twenty minutes on her appearance.

“Was it not worth it, though?” Fajr said, spinning around to show off her outfit.

“You look stunning but I was roasting out here in the sun, and I didn’t have coffee this morning...and I’m dying...literally dying!”“You’re not dying...yet…” Fajr said, balancing herself on her skateboard as bile rose in her throat. “If anyone’s dying today it’s me and it will most probably be on this skateboard.”“Not this again,” Sura said as the momentary smile on her face vanished. “There are close to no cars in Asali and you say that every time.”“And each time, it brings me closer to death.”Sura exhaled, a hand on her hip as she tapped her foot, waiting for Fajr to get over herself. “You’ve been doing this for a whole year. You know how easy it is.”“Easy for you to say, little miss I’m good at everything.”“I’m not good at baking, that’s your thing. Still waiting for you to teach me, by the way.” And with that they were rolling out of the neighbourhood. Most people in town rode bicycles or walked. Fajr’s mom had left behind her car but she only used it to drive to university.

“That wasn’t so hard,” Fajr said under her breath once they’d stopped outside a small coffee house that Sura had discovered.

“Exactly what I said,” her friend added. “You got here before me. Slow down next time.”Fajr let her shoulders fall as she readjusted her hijab, making sure there were no loose strands of hair poking out. “Didn’t want to waste anymore time.”“Please promise me you won’t keep checking your watch throughout the day…”“Can’t promise that.”They found a table by the window and Sura kept updating the weather app on her phone and praying for rain, like she did everyday.

“I swear, I heard thunder last night,” she said, elbows on the table.

“Are you sure? Because I heard nothing but the crickets chirping.”“I swear it’s going to rain again this month.”“You still keep track of the rain?”

“And, you still keep track of every millisecond. It’s only fair,” Sura shot back, batting her wonderfully curled lashes.

“You hate the sun that much?”“Hate is a strong word. The sun is good lighting for pictures.”“And vitamin D is essential.”“Don’t they have medicine for that?” Sura said, lowering her head to read the menu.

“Our skin glows in the sun,” muttered Fajr, tapping the glass on her watch.

“Indeed it does, so the sun isn’t all that bad.”

A notification bell on her phone caught Fajr’s attention. “Is that your mom?” Sura asked, all giddy. She loved hearing the travel stories Zareen told her and Fajr.

“Yes, asking if I fed the cats or not.” Fajr insisted on owning two cats. The first one, a white Persian cat named Aurora, had been with her for three years. Shehad unusual sleeping habits, hence waking up early morning and falling asleep hours later. Last year she bought a Tabby cat and named her Lorelai who slept in late and went to sleep early.

Sura squealed as she checked her phone.

“A rain forecast?” Fajr raised her eyebrow.

“Sadly, no. But Zain says he’s bringing the Scrabble board.”“You two should start competing with other people and broadcast it over the Internet.”

“It’s not a competition,” she sang, humming under her breath.“Whatever you say.”

Fajr was internally begging Sura to continue the conversation, because if they didn’t talk she was left to regret the twenty minutes she wasted today.

Twenty minutes.

Fajr fought hard to not think about it but her mind defeated her.

Twenty minutes wasted.

And for what? To pick an outfit?

It was like her brain wanted her to feel guilty and force her into using her powers more often. Fajr needed to cut down on using her ability as much as she and Sura both needed to cut down on their coffee intake.

“He was supposed to get here five minutes ago,” she said after the ticking of her watch started echoing in her head and she saw millions of hourglasses flashing in front of her.

“Not everyone can be as punctual as Miss Fajr Hussani,” Sura said and Fajr grinned at the undertone of envy she heard in her friend’s voice.

If anyone would notice something amiss about Fajr, it would be her mother or Sura. Her mother already knew how Fajr was always on time, but it’s not like she could tell that to Sura.

After nearly a decade of friendship, she hadn’t given either of her friends a hint as to what made her clock bend to her will.

“Someday, I’m going to catch up with you,” Sura continued, staring dramatically out the window. She wasn’t wearing her glasses today but Fajr was. The thin-rimmed ones that accentuated her eye shape.

And someday I’m going to be left behind, Fajr thought and she was reminded of her most daunting fear: that she would be left behind and the world would move on leisurely while she ran out of time.

Each night the fear that oneday someone would knock down her door and make her repay all the time she had spent in infinity kept her awake.

“You know what my fear was when I was younger?” her mother once said to her. They were sitting on the porch on a winter night, drinking coffee from mugs the size of soup bowls.

“What?”“That someday scientists would take me to a lab, impugn me about cheating all my life–yes, at the time I did feel guilty about having this particular power–and they would experiment on me. Try and weaponize what I have.”“Is that why you became a scientist?”“I’ve always been interested in science, Fajr,” her mother answered, taking a sip. “But, I try my best to not use my ability in the lab or when there are people around.”“A walking novelty in a room full of people obsessed with discovering something new…”“And they don’t even know!”

“Sorry, I’m late,” Zain said, pushing up his glasses as soon as he sat down across from Sura. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top and he repeatedly cracked his knuckles out of nervousness.

“Eight minutes and thirty seconds. Five minutes later than the last time we met,” Fajr said, clearing her throat as Zain flushed pink.

“I swear, if you would’ve been one more minute late she would have ran to your house and dragged you here herself,” Sura whispered to Zain and he suppressed laughter.

“I wouldn’t have,” Fajr denied, gesturing towards a waiter.

Zain gulped, hesitating. “Of course not, because that would have wasted your time even more.”“Exactly.”Zain made Sura order for him as he cracked his knuckles once more. Sura yelped at the sound and hit him gently with the menu. “Would you stop that? You’re going to get arthritis.”“You sound like my mom,” Zain said, gazing at Sura as she shook her head in disappointment.

“Someone has to keep you in line when she’s not around,” Sura shot back, looking out the window.

This was one of the moments that made Fajr want to use her power and slow down time. She wanted to let herself feel exhilarated by the way Zain gazed at Sura when she was staring out the window, silently praying for a thunderstorm.

She almost hated the waiter for putting down their coffee too fast and snapping Zain out of his trance, especially since he didn’t look up that often.

“If you drink matcha, we can play Scrabble,” Zain said to Sura, glancing up briefly.

“You’re going to turn me into an addict,” Sura said, clicking her tongue with a playflu smile on her lips.

“Hey, I didn’t even like coffe before I met the two of you.”“You’re welcome,” the two of us said simultaneously.

“That’s because you weren’t making it right,” Sura said, who had forced Zain to try every type of coffee in existence. “And we’re playing Scrabble either way.”“The winner gets a matcha,” Zain added, clearing the table as he pulled a Scrabble board from his backpack. “And the loser has to pay.”“Then I guess you’re buying me one afterwards.”

“Here we go…”

“You wish.”“That’s what you said the last time, right before I beat you.”

“That one doesn’t count,” Zain said, making a face.

“Why not?”

“Because Fajr was keeping score and she always confuses the addition.”

“He’s got a point, but it still counts,” I replied with a blank expression.

“I’ll just beat you harder this time to make up for it then,” Zain said with a nonchalant shrug.

“Overconfidence will embarrass you later on,” she warned, studying the letters she had gotten.

Zain’s comeback died on his tongue as Fajr interrupted, “Just start already, you two. Settle it on the board...with words.”“Flip a coin,” they chorused, eyes glued on the board. Fajr could already see them forming words in their heads and imagining them in a labyrinth of letters.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a purse she had stored all of her coinc in. Not many people these days carried around coins or even old notes. Currency had changed, much like other things.

Nonetheless, Fajr liked collecting them and they came in handy at times like these.

“Same sides?” she asked and they nodded in confirmation. The coin Fajr had picked out had the number two engraved on it and it was silver, with a mosque stamped on one side and a crescent on the other. Sura and Zain had chosen these respectively.

“Mosque,” Fajr declared and Sura spelled out a word that traveled the entire board.

Fajr pushed up her glasses and counted how many points each letter was worth as she tried to write them down as fast as they played.

Zain made the word ravenous using the ‘R’ in temperament. “Your turn,” he reminded Sura was biting her freshly glossed lip as she shifted letters in front of her. The rest of the game happened really fast and Fajr found it hard to keep track of the scores. Although, it was extremely confusing to add them up since the two players got carried away.

Occasionally, they would have a game where they started going off the board after combining the letters from multiple boards since the ones given in a single set weren’t enough.

“Uppity,” Zain said aloud as Sura made sure her letters weren’t depleted. He had a habit of saying out all the words Sura made and she was starting to pick it up too.

“Hurry, you two,” Fajr said under her breath, scribbling down points.

Sura grinned and Fajr even spotted a wicked glint in Zain’s eyes. And according to Sura, Zain’s eyes weren’t anything but innocent and soft.

“She wants us to hurry up,” Sura said. The smile plastered on her face really made Fajr regret saying that.

“Did you bring the extra letters?” Zain asked, scouring through his backpack for a bag of letters from other Scrabble sets.

Honestly, they’re the only ones that do this, Fajr thought but let herself be happy for them.

“Of course, I did,” she confired and pulled out a plethora of them that she carried around in a velvet pouch.

Now, they would play ten times faster, and they didn’t bother with the rules. If they had a word in mind, they started trading letters back and forth to create more words, even if that meant wandering off the board and onto the table.

“Nonchalant,” Zain said as he spelled out another one after that.

Eventually, Fajr lost track of the scores, and of time…